Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/782964
LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS EPA to consider tightening NOx regs T he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in late December responded to petitions filed by 20 state and local govern - ment agencies and other organiza- tions seeking tighter mandates in an effort to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from commercial trucks. It has been 16 years since EPA last revised its NOx standards for heavy-duty highway engines. The petitioners, including the California Air Resources Board, claim tech - nologies now exist to further reduce emissions. In its response, EPA says it rec - ognizes "a need for additional NOx reductions from this category of vehicles and engines, particularly in areas of the country with elevated levels of air pollution. EPA believes that opportunity exists to develop, in close coordination with CARB and other stakeholders, a new harmonized and comprehensive national NOx reduction strategy for heavy-duty on-highway engines." EPA intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for tighter standards aimed at model year 2024. "New model-year 2024 stan - dards would coincide with both the latest timing stated in the petitions and also an important model year for implementing heavy-duty Phase 2 standards," the response reads. – Jason Cannon ELD mandate sees another court win, OOIDA plans Supreme Court appeal A three-judge panel for the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last month denied the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association's request for the court to rehear its case against the U.S. Department of Transportation's electronic log- ging device mandate. OOIDA said it plans to appeal the decision to uphold the mandate to the U.S. Supreme Court. The owner-operator advocacy and lobbying group sought a rehearing en banc — a rehearing by all 12 judges on the 7th Circuit. Three of the 12 judges initially heard OOIDA's case last September and issued a ruling in late October upholding the ELD mandate, which takes effect later this year. OOIDA filed its motion for a rehearing in December. The denial by the 7th Circuit appellate court's panel to rehear the case leaves OOIDA and the owner-operators involved in the lawsuit one remaining judicial option: An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. OOIDA has not said when it plans to file its appeal. For the case to reach the Supreme Court, four of its nine jus- tices (currently eight, given the vacancy left by deceased Justice Antonin Scalia) must vote in favor of hearing the lawsuit. OOIDA originally filed the lawsuit against the mandate in March 2016 on behalf of two owner-operators, Mark Elrod and Richard Pingel. The trio asked the court to strike down the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's December 2015-issued rule requiring nearly all truck drivers to use ELDs instead of paper logs to track duty status. In the suit, OOIDA argued the rule violates truckers' Fourth Amendment rights to privacy and does not meet Congress' stipulations. The 7th Circuit judges that heard the case disagreed, however, dismissing all of OOIDA's arguments and upholding the rule's compliance date of Dec. 18, 2017. In addition to its Supreme Court appeal, OOIDA said it plans to work with Congress and the Trump administration to reevaluate the rule. Congress called for the mandate in 2012 with broad Republican support, how- ever. – James Jaillet Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/ news/subscribe-to- newsletters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newslet- ter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. commercial carrier journal | february 2017 11 OOIDA argued the ELD rule violates truckers' Fourth Amendment rights to privacy and does not meet Congress' stipulations. It has been 16 years since EPA last revised its NOx standards for heavy-duty highway engines.